SCCA National Newsletters Now On-line

Michael T. Lynch was kind enough to loan me his collection of copies of the SCCA National Newsletter. These 35 newsletters are 4 or 6 pages, and were used to supplement the club magazine Sports Car during the period that it was bimonthly. They start May 13, 1952 and run to March 31, 1958. They do have much more extensive lists of finishing positions in the races of that era than I've seen elsewhere. Since I was working with copies the pictures are rather poor, but the text is quite readable. These publications (59.2 MB in all) are available at:http://www.box.net/public/2dxt2uooe7

Thank you Bob,
This stuff is wonderful. I was able to put dates to a few items in my Augie Pabst bio. It also covers the amateur vs. professional battle within the SCCA in '58.

Here is an interesting rule revision as of June 1st, 1958

5. "Drivers shall receive no valuable renumeration for participating in events except the usual cups and trophies, and must at all times maintain their status as bona fide amateurs. More specifically no amateur shall:
(1) Accept money for participating in or placing in any race or other automotive event.
(2) Accept wagest or other compensation for driving another person's car or make his living directly or indirectly as a racing or competition driver.
(3) Accept from any sponsoring body, car owner, or any other source, transportation of car (if car is driver-owned) or person, food, lodging, or other expenses involved in his participating in races or other automotive events. (The latter proviso shall not be held to rule out the acceptance of bona fide hospitality of friends actually resident near race courses or freedom to exchange normal resturant courtesies.).

Augie and Bob Holbert lost their SCCA licenses in '61 because they raced in the USAC races which paid.

Hi Chuck,
It is worth noting that the new rule only applied to those races held in America.
Money was awash at the Bahamas Speed Weeks from 1958 onwards, and plenty of SCCA members raced there, literally hoping to cash in.
Terry.